Improved railway-car spring



P. W. .RHINELANDER.'

7 Car Spring. No. 99,475.

Patented Feb. 1, 1870;

tiiniteli garter r. W. RHINELANDER OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

Letters Patent No. 99,475, dated February 1870.

nasnoven RA WeFI- eR SPRING Tile Schedule referred to these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

, To whomit may concern;

Be it known thatLh}. VLRHINELANDER, of the city, county, and State ot New York, have invented, certain new: and useful Improvements in Metallic Sprin'gs'for Railroad Cars, and other purposes; and'I' hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact-descriptionof the same, reference being had to ;the accompanying drawing, in whichj Figures 1,2, and 3, 'repfsent different forms of springs," made in accordance with my invention.

' Iltis difficult -to harden (tr-temper steel uniformly of. more than five-eighths an inch in thickness, and spiral/springs are generally limited to that thickness,

, so that when a springofi;greatei' capacit'ythan one spiral will afford, isfneed it iscustomary to combine. spirals in groups or nests. lfin groups, cases are needed to enclosethem; if in nesfs',' thesphals ra1y in char.

acter, ha ving the same rangebt' motion, but diii'erirpg in diameter, carrying-capacity, pitch, and chz iraoter of elasticity. V 1

:Toavord these objectionswhich have been urged against the spiral springs nowin use, and to make a spiralspringwhich shall have the capacity of a given "group or'ne'st,'an'd yet be easily and uniformlyhardenedor tempered, ifirequired, the spring tobedescribe'd' has beeirinvented, which is homogeneous, independent 'ot'cases, and capable of being, made todillany required spacc'-' more easily than any combination of separate .spirals. v

As shown in the-accompanying drawings, the spiral v isformed of two or moremetallic wires or rods, twisted oigblgiicled into the form of a rope, of circular, oral, or rectangular sectional area, as may be most advantageous to meet requirements of space, eapacity, an c l' char-" -acter of action, the strands of the rope or braid, incase steel wire isem'ployed, beingsufliciently separated to. admit, pt hardening byitheusual process. In Figure 1, the rope from which the spiral is formed is represented as composed of three strands of wire, a, twisted together;

In Figure-ft, the rope is composed of three smaller ropes, b,-t-wiste' ,togetl-ier; each one of thesesmaller ropes being made up of three twisted strands; and I In Figure 3, thespiral isi'ormed of a strip made bybraiding together a suitable number of wires. The

twisting and braiding is eli'ccted in any ordinary or suitable manner, and any number of wires may be used in forming the rope or braid. One of the great advantages of the elliptic, as .a bearing-spun g for carriages, cars, 850., is thecharacter of its reaction, which is checked by the friction between tbeleaves; and so being the from the excessive vibration common to all highly-elastic springs, such as placeswhere springs of quick reaction would-be unscrviceable.

The spiral spring, made as shown in the drawing, I of braids or ropes of wire, has the checked reaction due to the friction of the bearing-sardines. Each strand of the rope' or braid constitutes a separate spiral, and these separatespirals may be considcred-.as inclined- Vplanes, hearing more or less on each other, and pro -ducing a-unifiu-mfriction, corrc'spomling to that of the elliptic. By regulating the "braiding or. twisting,.a n amount of friction; may be attained whiclizwill enable this spring tobe used n many purposes for whicli the elliptic alone is now suitable.

-1t' it should be desired to still fiu'tlier'clieck the reaction of/tlie spring, one or more of t e wires in each rope,.strand, or braid, may l e-of! less elastic nature metal. Steel wire, forinstance, maybe twisted around iron wire, ilrsuch proportion as may bet-suitable to give the requisite carryirig-capacity to thesprilmand' I v n I, n I a yet to produce the desired eiicco 1nd1n'1unshmgthc vibration, and7checking the too-sudden reaction."

.or groups of springs, one independent spring, which hasv the capacity of a'nest or group, and which .posscss es the im ortant element of friction, and consequent clxe ckedfrcaction. Moreover, in thus forming poses, made of a metallic rope or strip, composed of strands of wire braided or twisted together, substantially inthemanner shown and-set forth. Y

ticities, or of elastic and non-elasticstrands, braided and set forth.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, before two subscribing witnesses. 1". W. BHINELANDER. Witnesses:

JAMES ID. BUTMAN,

R-onr. B. CAMPBELL.

spirals, India rubber,-&c.-, the "elliptic is used in'many jhanithe otheigor mayevcn be'made-ofa non-elastic.

I am thus enabled to produce in the'place of nests the spring, another great advantage results, for while 1 A. spiral spring, for railroad-carf and other par- 2. A spiral spring, for railroad-cars, and other purposes, composed of strands of wire, of different clas or twisted together, substantially .in the manner shown 

